Russia struck back again in the spy-versus-spy squabble with the West on Thursday, saying that an American diplomat urged two Russian men to collect secret plans for Russia's most sophisticated battle tank, the T-82.


Western arms experts expressed surprise at the news that the T-82 tank even exists. The spokesman for Russia's top spy-catching agency said Thursday's announcement was the first confirmation of the tank's existence.


Alexander Mikhailov, spokesman for the Federal Counterintelligence Service, said the American diplomat involved in the tank spying case was Kelli Ann Hamilton.


The switchboard operator at the U.S. Embassy said there was no one there by that name. But a phone list from last spring lists a Kelli Hamilton as a second secretary at the embassy.


"We don't comment on allegations of intelligence activities," an embassy spokesman said.


The accusation was the latest in a flurry of charges and countercharges by Russian and Western intelligence agencies prompted by last month's arrest of an alleged CIA mole in Washington.


Russian officials have been miffed by the hand-wringing and rhetoric from U.S. officials who angrily demanded Russia stop spying on the United States.


Thursday's announcement further supported Russia's claim that the West still spies on it, too. On Tuesday, Russia disclosed it had charged a Russian defense industry executive with spying for Britain.


In the past week, Russia and the United States have both ordered the expulsion of diplomats in a tit-for-tat exchange reminiscent of the Cold War.


Mikhailov said one of the two Russian men, businessman Maxim Alyoshin, 23, contacted Hamilton in January 1993, offering to gather secrets about the Russian tank. They met several times inside the embassy, the spokesman said.


Alyoshin said he wanted to work for U.S. intelligence to get $50,000 to pay debts, Mikhailov said, adding that the man apparently was never paid by the Americans.


Mikhailov said the diplomat told Alyoshin to gather information about Uralvagonzavod, a plant in the Urals city of Nizhny Tagil which produces the T-82 tanks.


Hamilton also gave Alyoshin a letter in English, asking embassy officials to assist him if he visited the embassy again, Mikhailov said.


Back in Nizhny Tagil, Alyoshin met Igor Motorin, 39, a worker at the tank plant, who obtained four copies of the factory's general plan, Mikhailov said.


Alyoshin returned to Moscow and gave the documents to the diplomat, who then urged him to get secret data on the T-82 tank's armor and electronics, Mikhailov said.


Alyoshin and Motorin failed to get the information, Mikhailov said, adding that the two were detained by authoriMikhailov said that legal proceedings against the two men had ben dropped because the men had confessed, cooperated with authorities and caused no damage to Russian security.


Although Mikhailov said such leniency was not unusual, it seemed unlikely that spy suspects would escape punishment.


He said the Federal Counterintelligence Service had not initiated any action against the diplomat.


"We didn't do anything against her because we didn't consider it necessary," Mikhailov said. "We stopped these two people. If Hamilton is related to a U.S. spy agency, she will draw her lesson from the case. If she is not, why should we incite the uproar?"


Mikhailov denied the case had any connection to the arrest of Aldrich Ames, a 31-year CIA veteran, and his wife, Rosario.


"We aren't trying to somehow juxtapose this case to the Ames case," he said. "We don't want to cast a shadow on relations between our countries."


However, Leonid Mlechin, a world affairs analyst for Izvestia, said the connection with the Ames case was obvious.


He noted that spies are caught all the time, but commented the "timing for disclosures is selected by politicians."ties last March.


There were no details available on the tank, although Western experts said it would be the latest in the line of Russia's T-80 main battle tanks.